Chapter 11 : Metamorphosis Options

[Mystyrys]

Chapter 11 : Metamorphosis

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. ~Author Unknown

Original Sin.mp3

ON: The City



It was the hush before daybreak -- the time when the night prepares to sleep and the day has yet to awaken -- the magic hour of transition. Sounds whispered in the darkness faded away as the creatures slunk into shadows to hide from the coming of the light. Daylight still slumbered over the horizon with a burgeoning glow filled with promises. Monsters and demons and horrors crawled away, leaving their blood-soaked meals and taking their stolen souls with them into the abyss as tomorrow's victims and heroes dreams fluttered away into the paradox of what the future might hold...

... once the sun rose into the sky.



Tick tock tick tock tick tock.

Teresa listened to the old clock ticking away the minutes. Blindfolded, gagged, bound to a heavy chair in a building somewhere, there was nothing else she could do.

It had been two days since the men in suits who had come looking for Gabriel had escorted her out of the club under the threat of demolishing the entire building and everyone in it. She had believed them. They wasted no words on explaining how or why they were going to do a thing. They just said what they wanted and what they were willing to do to get it.

Teresa had recalled Gabriel from the mission. There was no other way. What she hadn't anticipated was that they'd take her as bait to lure Gabriel in. Teresa wondered if the bounty hunters understood who and what Gabriel was? He was just as likely to vanish and never be heard from again as he was to come back here to what was obviously a trap. Teresa knew Gabriel's loyalties were based on an inscrutable criteria that she couldn't fathom nor rely on to include saving her life. She'd have to do that herself.

~Damn I wish I had a cigarette,~ she thought as she continued to work her hands free of the ropes.

Fallen City

Moses, Nadia and Brass stood in front of the thick glass window that allowed them to see into the pressure tank. Large knobby bolts secured the glass frame to the steel of the vault. The massive round hatch at one end of the tube was sealed shut. Pipes and wiring conduits fed into the vault from unknown places on the other side of the cavern walls.

Inside the tank was the captured vampire. The rotting remains of the hydra they had used to entrap her now lie putrid and dissolving all around her. Even alive it's blood would not have sustained her and now after two days inside the tank, she was near-crazed with hunger. They watched her as she continued to throw herself against the glass, screaming with futile rage.

Moses kept turning his glance to Nadia as she watched the captive. Her eyes were wide with a kind of child-like wonder and awe. She seemed mesmerized. Was she enthralled by the vampire, even through the glass? Did she not fear its hunger? Did she desire to possess its powers?

Moses recalled what Carlos had said to him a few days before the first vampire attacks when he and Ting-Ting had come to visit them at Thunder Falls. Carlos had tried to persuade Moses to kill Nadia because she was too dangerous to keep. But seeing that Moses loved her, Carlos had then advised another strategy...

Thunder Falls, a few days ago ...

Carlos smiled at Moses. "Keep her a slave."

Moses raised a brow, unsure if Carlos was teasing or not. "How will that prevent her becoming more powerful?"

"It does not." Carlos made a fist, "When you hold her in your power," he clenched his fist tighter, making a sound of gravel crunching underfoot, "then you control her power as well." His voice lowered, hard and rumbling. "If you control her, she will release her power only when you command it." Carlos opened his fist and held his palm up. The rune carved into his palm glowed with a soft green light. "Her power is your power."

The Vault

"Her power is your power." Moses looked again from Nadia to the vampire in the vault. Could he use Nadia to make the creature cooperate? Was she strong enough to face it? If Nadia could survive a psionic feedback surge from Carlos... maybe, just maybe.


Green Mansions - deep in the forest outside the city walls



Lita sat in the embracing branches of a massive tree that overlooked the ruined house below. She watched Max as he paced back and forth across the underbrush that had once been a lawn in some time past. If Max had looked up, he'd never have seen her; she was blended into the patterns of bark and leaves and spattered dawnlight. It would be at least an hour before full sunrise penetrated this deep into the forest. But Max knew she was there. Her thoughts were with him.

Ever since the Link had been broken when Thorn went into the stars, Lita's lifeline had become Max. The psychic parasites in her mind had reached out and created a symbiotic link with the nearest mind even though it was a non-receptive. They had to or they and their host Lita would have died. Even though Lita was completely unaware of what made her telepathic, she sensed that it was something that was not like her blood and her bones, but a thing that lived within her. It was her voice, her thoughts, her feelings... but not of her essence. Ever since the break she had begun to wonder how her people came to be what they were.

Or had been. Lita was the last one.

Max looked up into the tree that bent gracefully over the house, as if to shelter it from the world. He couldn't see Lita but he could feel her. She was sending to him. Not any words. Just what was in her heart.

Lita watched Max as he went back inside the ruins of the old mansion. It was to be her new home. And Thorn's. If he ever came back from the stars.


The Keep -- Two days ago



Sin had traded one prison for another...

Eddie stared at the two men as they waited for Gustav. He knew they wouldn't talk to him so he didn't bother trying. They wouldn't know the answers to his questions anyway. He looked over at Sin. Still unconscious, heavily sedated, her face was pale and still showing the fading bruises from the beating she'd gotten in that town he'd found her in. The orderlies had covered her with a light sheet. Eddie saw the spreading bloodstain from the knife wound in her thigh. Being seasick and drugged wasn't bad enough, but that she'd also be weak from blood loss by the time she came to. Eddie wanted to do more than stand aside and watch ... but he couldn't. He had to do nothing or Sin would die.

Several minutes later Eddie heard footsteps coming down the hallway. He quickly ground out his cigarette onto the stone floor and turned to face the door. A thin older man in a dark sweater and slacks entered the room. His face was darkly-tanned and clean-shaven. His eyes were sharp and like bright black stones as he looked around the room, taking in everything. He had thick iron gray hair that fell in long waves to his shoulders. He was lean and moved gracefully, as a predator.

He smiled thinly as he looked at Eddie. "Well, Eddie. I am told you have brought me an insane person to train in our dark arts. Explain to me why I shouldn't kill her right now and end her misery."

Eddie felt his mouth go dry. Gustav wasn't making an idle threat. He'd kill Sin and Eddie both if Eddie's answer didn't satisfy him.

"Because, Gustav," Eddie said quietly, "her insanity is her strength, and if you can control her insanity, she will be the best assassin you have ever had."


Outland

The regeneration was nearly complete. The last nerves grew and extended, reaching out, seeking connections. Neurons fired. Slowly at first, then faster and faster as lightning impulses raced through the body, awakening it. To protect the dead from the pain of coming alive, the mind was not revived until the last.

Darkness. Silence. A sense of vacancy. A thought ignited. Where am I? Breathe. Breathe. Breathe! BREATHE!

And all in a rush, the memories came back. She instinctively did a mental check of her physical presence to ensure she was complete. Then she pushed at the dirt covering her body, clawing for air. Her hands finally broke through and she shoved the lightly packed earth aside as she struggled to break free of her grave. She dug at the dirt covering her face, clearing her mouth and nose. She pushed up out of the embrace of the earth and gulped for air, gasping for it in short, hard painful breaths as her lungs remembered how to breathe.

She screamed. "Aaaaaagh!"

The pain of resurrection wracked her body with spasms as she leaned forward and curled over her knees as she knelt in the dirt. Her fingers clawed at the ground as she rode out the waves of pain.

Finally, the pain began to ebb. Senses returned. Everything was too sharp. Too loud. Too bright. She focused on breathing and her heartbeat. She was alive. She raised her face from the dirt and looked up.

The sky was blue. The sun was yellow. The remains of a burnt barn surrounded her. She was on Earth.

She slowly stood up and looked around. Nothing else was left. Just the charred lumber of the barn where she had died. Perhaps villagers had burned the barn to purge the evil there. Or maybe Gideon had done it thinking it would permanently end her existence. But she was not like Earth-born Vampires. She had risen from her grave a thousand times.

This was just once more.

She was naked. Her clothes had rotted away after weeks in the shallow grave. It didn't matter. She'd find new clothes. She'd take them from the food.

Eliza started walking down the dirt road, headed for The City.







OFF: Some parts are reposted to reiterate what went before. I want to pick up all our loose threads and tie them back into the main storylines again.

Lt. Teresa Tedesco
Warlord Moses Malloy
Nadia Brandywine
Lita
Eddie O'Shea
Eliza Solomon

[Mystyrys]

Chapter 11: Metamorphosis

Major Tom.mp3

ON: The Acheron

Tatai watched the aft view screen as it showed the remains of the laser platform spiraling into space as charred debris. The citizens of Freedom Station would be salvaging that junk for generations.

She also saw the trail of the Bellerephon as it left for it's return trip to Mars. She wondered what General Safar would have to say to her superiors on her return. Her mission had not exactly been successful nor gone as planned. Would she be honored for her role in the demise of the mutant's grab for power? Or would she die for letting Thorn escape? Tatai knew she owed Safar for Thorn's rescue. No matter what Chairperson Martin had done or promised, Tatai knew that if Safar was even marginally similar to Thorn, that Safar had chosen to help Thorn only because she wanted to. What her reasons were made Tatai curious, but she doubted even Thorn could tell her why Safar had let him go.

Satisfied that the main mission had been accomplished, albeit, not quite as planned, Tatai turned her eyes then onto the others.

The ship was on autopilot. The AI had been giving a space tour spiel until Thorn had growled at it to shutup or he'd rip it's wires out. Thorn's ship was a mess. The station security guards had ransacked it and stolen everything not nailed down, but they had not been able to unlock some of the lockers where they had stowed some personal items. Tatai had been relieved to find her clothes and weapons were still secure. She had incinerated the filthy mutant work overalls she'd worn on the station, showered and then changed back into her leather jacket and pants. She felt herself again now she was clean and armed.

Jack was in the galley tending to his wounds with the rescue kit that had been in one of the pockets of his overalls. He hadn't had much to say. Tatai was surprised he had survived disarming the laser platform and his confrontation with the mutant. His cybernetics were nowhere near as advanced or numerous as hers and she knew she'd have had difficulty facing the gorilla. Jack had Thorn to thank for still being alive.

And from the look of Thorn's ravaged body, Tatai knew Reiger was dead because of revenge, not to rescue Jack. The torture Reiger had done to Thorn was horrific, but Tatai knew that deep in the heart of warriors was a hatred that fed that kind of fury. A warrior did not torture. That was a bureaucrat's job.

Thorn was gorging himself on food he had stashed in a hidden wall compartment. Tatai was sure his ship had been searched and stripped of all it's valuables before for him to have a secure stash of food and water. Tatai also knew from Thorn's personnel files that regeneration made him ravenously hungry and weak and that very soon now he would fall into a near coma-like sleep while his body healed itself.

The General's orders had been specific. The means to that end had been left up to her. And the timing. Was it time yet? Was there something more she could find out first?

She still didn't know what secret Thorn was hiding. There was something or someone at his house in The City. His so-called house. From what Tatai had seen of the public plans and the images, it was more like a fortress. What did a merc who worked for a night club owner need with a fortress? Was it to keep people out? Or something in?

But Jack... Jack had no secrets anymore. Somewhere along the way in the last few weeks his command had spun out of his control. He lay open to exposure like a lamb tied to a stake in a canyon full of wolves. One attack after another, each one leading closer and closer to who he really was. And who he really worked for.

Tatai didn't let emotion choose. She had her orders.

Tatai shot a look forward to the cockpit where she knew the core of the AI resided. She had to circumvent it somehow.

She could see the blue and white globe of Earth below them. It glowed with a brilliant blue scintillating edge as dawn was about to break over the horizon. The intersecting Ley Lines slashed across it in gleaming pulses. Abyssal darkness with a swirl of stars lay behind the Earth. The blackness where Time was lost.

"Thorn, now that we are out of harm's way, I suggest you and Jack get some sleep. I'll wake you before we land."



OFF:

Captain Tatai Synt Ayt Ess

[Thorn]

Chapter 11: Metamorphasis
Location: Earth Orbit, The Acheron

ON:

Jack Lassiter stared at Earth from a viewport window in the Acheron’s cargo hold. As a boy, he had seen photographs of Earth from space in old textbooks that had been salvaged from before the fall. Unlike the other children in his class who had been amazed at those tattered pictures and, as a result, wanted to be astronauts, Jack had never had such predilections. Even as a child, he had not been moved by simple emotions. Life was hard as it was and daydreaming about becoming an astronaut was a useless waste of time. There was survival to be had and a world to take back. The daydreaming could wait for another generation.

Staring at Earth now, Jack had a strange feeling of sadness for those children in his school class. Most of them were either dead now or had become hardened survivors on the Earth below. He was now experiencing the one thing that some of those people still dreamed about and yet he felt nothing staring at Earth. The only feeling that he felt was a sense of relief that he was returning to Earth, that he would feel real gravity again, fresh air, and be back in the City with Teresa. He also wanted a hot shower and a glass cognac. Telling stories of how he fought alien mutants and how he floated in space did matter to those simple needs.

Closing the medical kit that he had been using to tend to his wound, Jack picked it up and placed it in one of the stowage lockers. He rubbed his head where he had struck the bulkhead in the laser room. According to the fancy little medical scanner that was in the kit, Jack had a concussion. It was a blessing considering the fact that General Rieger had picked up Jack and thrown him as if he were nothing more than a toy doll. According to Thorn, General Rieger had planned to dump his body into space and make him a permanent satellite around Earth. Jack had missed the fight between Thorn and Rieger but he did see the remains of Rieger after waking up. Thorn had bludgeoned the gorilla mutant and reduced his head to a quivering mass of hamburger. It had been suitable payback for the torture that Rieger had given Thorn.

Making his way onto the bridge, Jack saw that Thorn was now sleeping in the quarterdeck. He was in one of his deep coma like sleeps in which his body was regenerating. Nearby, at the common table, there was a huge pile of food that looked as if four men had just eaten their Thanksgiving dinner. Jack walked by Thorn and heard the deep rumble of his breathing. An atom bomb could go off right now and he doubted Thorn would awaken but as a precaution, he was sure not to make any loud noise. The last thing he wanted was Thorn grabbing him and tearing him apart out of some defensive reaction at being awakened.

Tatai was seated in the pilot’s chair. She was busying herself by checking the instruments or as, Jack suspected, being nosey and taking notes of any Ascendant technology that could be interest. It always seemed to him that she was always at work watching and putting things to memory. Jack reminded himself to cut Tatai a break. Without her, the mission would never had succeeded. There had to be something to be said about her cold and compassionless demeanor although it still grated on Jack’s nerves. If only the woman would smile from time to time, he would not have a problem with it.

“I have selected a landing vector,” the AI called out. “I am afraid that you will have to wait until the General has finished his much needed rest until landing commences.”

“Can’t you land now?” Jack asked. He slipped into the co-pilots seat.

The AI gave a sigh. “If you think I am going to override Ascendant operating procedures because you wish to be Earth bound you are sadly mistaken, human. This conversation has ceased any importance. If you pardon me, I have several diagnostics to do.”

Jack shook his head. He looked at Tatai. “I think that thing really doesn’t like me. So, if you don’t mind my asking while we are waiting for Thorn to wake up….whenever he wakes up…what do you plan to put into your report for the General?”

Tatai didn't look over at Jack as she answered. "Mission accomplished. No casualties."

She could so easily just jab her fist into his skull, crushing his face. Or reach over the ship's console and throttle him to death. Or break his neck. Or tear out his heart.

She turned her attention back to the Acheron's operating systems. It was a challenge. An impenetrable AI. It reminded her of Gabriel.

Tatai's scanners continued to gingerly probe the AI's systems but it was obvious the AI was blocking her from all but the most basic functions of the ship. She could adjust the temperature or read the manual on how to properly store the EVA suits, but there was no way she could get into it's operating systems undetected or with brute force either. Any intrusion would result in her being injured. Or worse.

Thorn was in no shape to stop her.

Tatai looked over at Jack. There was a way. Discreet and effective.

Jack saw Tatai giving him a strange look before she turned away to the Acheron's controls. It was a stare that he recognized before; a cold calculating stare of a hunter staring at her target. In the short time that Jack had known Tatai, she had never smiled or made many facial remarks but the cold glint in those already soulless eyes was enough.

Jack's first reaction was to reach for his sidearm but it was not there. It may have well been a good thing for Jack knew Tatai was a formidable target. There was also the problem that Jack needed proof. Just because she gave him the look that she wanted to kill him did not necessarily mean that was her motive. He would have to watch her carefully, study her moves, and find out through his own means what exactly her true intentions were.

In other words, he would have buy his time until he was sure that he could kill her. IF the UR were connected, Jack would have to move from there. He prayed for General Granger's soul that the man was not involved.

"Well," Jack said. "I think I am going to stretch out in the cargo and take a nap. Call me if you hear anything."

Tatai gave no answer. Jack got out of the co-pilots seat and he started to walk back to through the quarterdeck. As he walked past Thorn, Jack deliberately reached to the common table and knocked a metal tumbler to the deck. It struck the deck and clanged loudly. Thorn's massive ears twitched in response to the sound but he did not stir make a noise. If Tatai wanted to kill Jack, now would be a perfect time. Thorn was in a deep regenerative sleep and he would not even bat any eye if a fight were to take place. Tatai could also kill Thorn if she wanted but Jack suspect somehow that she did not want Thorn dead.

Why not move now?

Jack climbed down into the cargo hold and he was sure to leave the hatch open. He had never closed it before and it would make Tatai suspicious of him. Unfortunately, the only weapon on board the ship was the rifle that Thorn had brought with him from the Ascendant vessel but it was lying next to him on his bunk. The rest of the weapons that the team had brought aboard had been looted from the mutants.

Looking around the cargo bay, Jack spotted a toolbox bolted to the deck beneath one of the benches. He opened the toolbox and took out a large wrench. It was made for Ascendant paws and if wielded properly it could crack a skull.

It would have to do. Lying down on the bench above the toolbox, Jack kept his eyes on the ladder from the quarterdeck. He was tired and he wanted to sleep but he did not take the chance.

Tatai was as still as a statue as she stood in the quarterdeck listening to Thorn's rumbling breaths. His sleep was deep. Her bio scan showed he was deep in REM sleep. His breathing was even, his biorhythms slowed down while his body labored to regenerate. She was sure he could be awakened instantly and at full awareness if there was danger.

But the sleeping Thorn felt no danger from Tatai.

Jack, on the other hand was keenly aware of the danger he was in.

Tatai stood near the open hatchway to the cargo hold as she scanned the interior. Jack was not sleeping. His pulse was rapid and erratic. He breathing was accelerated. He was sweating. Tatai shook her head as she turned away and went back to the cockpit. Somewhere along the way Jack had lost his edge. He was a danger to himself and everyone who worked with him or for him.

General Granger had said the method and timing was completely her choice.

A small smile quirked her lips as she savored the thought of Jack Lassiter squirming with paranoia. It added a piquancy to the hunt. Fear. Fear made it all the sweeter.

OFF: A JP by Paul and Cathy.

Lt. Thorn
Captain Jack Lassiter
Captain Tatai Synt Ayt Ess

[Thorn]

Chapter 11: Metamorphosis
Rifts Earth
Landfall

ON:

“Wake up.”

The voice was distant like that of a whisper at the end of a long corridor. Thorn could hear it but the deep regenerative slip that held him firmly within its grasp refused to yield. His body, drugged by the inhibitor that General Rieger had injected into it, demanded rest as the damage from his torture healed slowly. As the bones knitted and the deep gashes in his flesh closed slowly, Thorn’s mind was in a state beyond that of REM sleep. Save for his most basic functions and that of his regeneration, he bordered on the realm of a comatose state.

“Thorn, wake up!”

The voice was louder now and clearer. Slowly, Thorn began to claw his way through the darkness. New feelings within him could be felt and as he clawed his way closer to the conscious world, he became aware of the world around his physical self. The smell of the food on the table struck his senses, the rushing sound of the Acheron’s air ventilation system, the familiar smell of Tatai who was always carried with her the faint aroma of jasmine. As Thorn’s aching body relented to his demand to be awakened, he opened his eyes and stared at the familiar unsmiling visage of Tatai standing nearby. Having never liked the woman, he fought back the natural protective instinct to grab her and kill her. He had forgotten to tell both Jack and Tatai that they should have stayed away from him when he started to awaken.

It was staring at Tatai that Thorn realized that his left eye had not regenerated. He sat up carefully and pressed his paw to his face where he gently probed the empty eye socket. His eye should have been the first thing to regenerate but for some reason it had not.

Standing next to Tatai was Jack. He was haggered looking as if he had not slept for days. Thorn noticed that his right hand was clenched around a wrench. “What the hell is going on?” Thorn demanded.

“We have landed,” Jack said. He shot a strange look to Tatai. “The AI landed us in a small clearing several miles away from The City. I called Teressa for a car but I got no answer, just a club employee. A car is coming for us.”

Jack’s voice was tense but Thorn could detect the fatigue behind it. He was clearly worked up about something but Thorn would have to find out later. He moved himself from his bunk and slid his feet onto the deck. As he stood, he became aware that his right leg had not healed properly. Taking a step Thorn noticed that he had a slight limp.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

“I think old debts are coming back to me for payment,” Thorn said gruffly. “I need to go outside.”

Without offering an explanation, Thorn walked across the quarterdeck and down the access ladder into the cargo hold. He strode across the cargo hold toward the aft hatch where he slapped his paw on the control box. The lift hummed to life and began to lower toward the ground. As the seal was broken a thin ray of golden sunlight filled the interior of the cargo hold. It was strong enough for Thorn to shield his good eye and look away.

The team had only been gone a few days but to Thorn it felt as if months had passed. The smell of a crisp autumn day greeted his senses along with that of a fresh, clean air. As the ramp touched the ground, Thorn walked down the ramp and pressed his feet into the cool grass beyond the ship. The Acheron had touched down in a small, grassy clearing. Around it was a large swatch of birch trees. Thorn stared at the golden canopy of the tree as he lifted his muzzle to the clear autumn sky and took a deep breath of fresh air. The animal within him, always at odds with his human side, reveled in the beauty of the Earth.

Thorn smiled. As happy as he was to be back on Earth, to be home, it was the renewed feeling in the pit of his stomach that pleased him the most. That feeling coursed through Thorn like a charge of energy until it reaches the tips of his fingers and his toes. It gave him strength and happiness at the same time. It was stronger now, too, as if there had been a part of him that had always fought to ignore it. Thorn embraced it this time. He had never been so happy before, not since those long dead days when he was a human being with a different name.

It was Lita. Thorn closed his eyes as he reached out to her. It was easy now and all that he had to do was merely listen. As felt Lita’s presence, Thorn gave her a simple message. It would be enough to chase away her fears and her sickness and make her well again. By the time he would reach Green Mansions, she would be sitting in one of the pine trees that circled the property and looking for him.

I’m home.

“Is everything okay, Thorn. You are acting pretty damn strange,” Jack said from behind.

“I am fine, Jack,” Thorn said. He turned and looked at Jack who was standing at the edge of the ramp. “I’m not going to The City right now. When you both leave the ship, it will automatically secure itself. I will take care of it later.”

Jack frowned at the comment. “What the hell do you mean? We have to go back for the debriefing.”

“I will see you tomorrow,” Thorn said.

Jack’s jaw line tensed angrily but Thorn silenced him with a stare. Not wanting to argue with him or Tatai, he turned eastward and started to walk away. He knew exactly where he was going and he could walk it blind. Everything was different now and he did not mind.

OFF:

Thorn

[civ203]

Chapter 11: Metamorphosis
The City

ON:

The weight of the city on him was a welcome thing. All those little lives and little lies. The transport had let him off outside the gates and for the second time in as many months he'd walked into the City. This time had, amusingly, been harder. Paperwork was always harder than trickery.

Teresa has summoned him. The circumstances were questionable, but Gabriel welcomed them. A chance to get back to a smaller life of dealing with patrons and media. A smaller life of little lives and little lies.

He let the networks flood him. Drinking in the random broadcasts and flow of data that was the city's real life blood. Information. He drifted through the crowded city sidewalks and as he did he walked through their lives, all those that strode by him. Pieces of phones calls and databursts. All their stories laid out in black and white, telling everything their was. All the things missing from their existences. All their wants and needs.

He wasn't a part of it. But it was what he needed.

And Teresa had called him back to it.

He reached out through the networks, brushing Black Jack's security system and pushing it aside to sift through the feeds. He felt the switch when he tripped it. He almost hesitated, the familiarity of Babel code startling him. The assault slammed into him and his steps faltered and froze in the real world.. On the sidewalk the crowd moved around him... irritated with him while he struggled for his life.

Inside his mind the war raged. It knew his doors, it knew his ways. His codes. It burned through him, chasing him through his own mind. Stripping and ravaging. He knew this code... so elegant and brutal.

It was familiar. He took a faltering step forward and found his stride again. Purposeful... angry.... furious.

He slammed back at the unaltered Babel black ops hack. Unoriginal. Lower designation than he was. He isolated it with cold efficiency and the pusher tried to snap back, away. He held the connection and sent feeders after it. And pursued it himself. He was going to burn out their mind. He was going to rip their consciousness to shreds. Then he was going to find them.

They were here.

And they were going to pay for it.

OFF:

Gabriel

[Mystyrys]

Chapter 11 : Metamorphosis

ON: The City

It was going on two days now and Teresa knew this wasn't going to end well. Ever since they had bound her to the chair in the center of the cinderblock room and then went out the door and left her there, they had not been back.

No food. No water. No bathroom. She hadn't soiled herself yet, but she knew it was imminent. Thirst was the main thought on her mind. Her parched lips and tongue felt cracked, thick and sticky. The blindfold was tight against her eyes and the knot was tangled into her hair. She couldn't slip it off no matter how much she tried to rub her face on her shoulder. Her shoulders and elbows ached from the taut tension and awkwardly twisted position of being bound behind the back of the chair. The rope was slipped through the slats of the chair and pulled tight against her ankles too. She couldn't stretch or bend without pulling everything tighter. The rough rope across her throat made sure she didn't rock the chair and she couldn't slump forward to even drift off to sleep.

How many hours? Two days and how many hours? She didn't feel light coming through windows. She didn't hear birds or cars or planes or people. Just the incessant ticking of the invisible clock. It was like water dripping forever and ever and ever, endless and uncountable. There was no way to gauge the time. She only knew her body felt like two days hungry. Two days thirsty. Two days tired. Two days pain.

It was clear now. She was bait. She was a trap. But they didn't need to keep her alive. She only needed to live long enough to draw Gabriel in.

Teresa didn't know who they were, or what Gabriel had done to make them want him so badly. She had no idea how they had tracked him down or why they thought taking her hostage would bring him to them. Was she a symbol? Was she trigger? An offer he couldn't refuse? What in his past made her worth saving?

OFF: Just a short one. Trying to get my muse to come have mercy on me. Aaaaand there goes my peace and quiet. The boys are piling in here to get on the PS3. End of writer's solitude.

Teresa Tedesco
Prisoner

[Thorn]

Chapter 11: Metamorphasis
Rifts Earth

ON: At the landing site


Jack watched as Thorn walked away, his massive form vanishing into the trees on the far side of the clearing where the Acheron had landed. With Thorn gone and the AI not wanting to talk, there was not much else to do but wait. Tatai had vanished into the ship obviously not wanting to engage in any lengthy conversation with him as well. That was fine for Jack. He would admit to respecting Tatai for making the mission a success but that respect did not translate into friendship. That was a certainty Jack could live with.

An hour passed when, finally, a large truck appeared through the clearing. It was UR landcrawler, one of a few vehicles the UR employed to move through the wilderness of Earth where roads were not accessible. The sound of tree's being felled and the rumble of a diesel engine gave Jack the feeling that some kind of monster was coming for him. He stared across the clearing where the vehicle appeared. It had the body of a van but where there were wheels were four individual sets of tank tracks that worked on specialized independent suspensions that allowed the vehicle to crawl over rocks and dead trees with ease. Perched atop the van, at a gunner's mount, was a UR soldier. Jack held back the urge to smile at the sight. It was first sign of human life other than the pathetic humans that he had seen on Freedom Station.

"They're here!" Jack yelled. He looked into the ship where Tatai still was and then back at the oncoming landcrawler. He watched as the vehicle came to a stop and the passenger side open. From within, a young officer, a lieutenant who was more boy than man, jumped out and sauntered toward Jack. He stopped abruptly and gave a sloppy salute.

"You don't salute in the field when you are out of UR territory!" Jack growled.

"Uh, sorry, Sir!" the Lieutenant said in an exasperated voice. "Sir…uh…you have to come quick. There is an emergency."

Jack smirked and shook his head. "That ain't the first time I heard that."

The Lieutenant swallowed nervously and shifted his feet. He stared at Jack with wide eyes. "Sir, there is a problem….in The City…an employee of yours has been taken!"

Tatai walked up behind Jack and looked down at the Lieutenant, giving him a glare she usually reserved for servants. "Quit stuttering and quit being mysterious. Which employee?"

She wondered why they'd send anyone all the way out here to report a missing employee. But as soon as she had the thought, the answer came to her. There was only one employee that Jack would care about. His wife, Teresa. She looked at Jack waiting to see his reaction when the Lieutenant told him.

The Lieutenant stared at Tatai and then at Jack. He briefly wondered who was in charge when he focused on the task he had been sent. "It's Mrs Tedesco, Sir! She was just....taken."

Jack's jaw line tensed and there was a loud crack as the muscles popped. He stepped forward and grabbed the Lieutenant by the front of his shirt. "What do you mean just taken? Don't you have any useful information?"

"Gen-General Granger wishes for you to report to UR Mobile Command. He told me to inform you that he will do everything to..."

"We are going to The City now!" Jack yelled. "Every minute that we waste is a minute that Teresa can't spare. We go NOW!"

Not wanting to argue with Jack, the Lieutenant shook his head in agreement. He scrambled back toward the truck with Jack close behind. He climbed up the small fold out stepladder toward the side door of the landcrawler when he looked at Tatai. He gave her a look that brooked no arguments.

"You can report whatever the hell you want to UR Command but I am going to get Teresa!"

***New Content Starts Here! Missing scenes from JP***

Tatai wondered why he wasn't dead yet? Why was she prolonging it? Granger's orders had been simple. Kill Lassiter. She didn't ask why -- she didn't need to know why. But she was pretty sure this right here was the reason. Jack let emotion dictate his actions instead of reason. That was a fatal flaw in a commander. Especially a commander of a black ops unit.

She calculated the trajectory of the bullet. The Lieutenant had followed training and stepped out of the line of fire. Tatai knew there were more soldiers inside the vehicle. Wisely, none had chosen to move. Jack's outburst had been clever; saying he put team members above orders. Even the most disciplined soldier harbored that illusion. Only with Jack, it wasn't an illusion. It was real.

She had been careful to not call Jack 'Captain' in front of the squad. She didn't want to have to kill them too, should they decide to side with the man trying to rescue his wife. She had to counter his sympathetic plea with a commanding rationale of her own. She had to trump him. She had to replace their sympathy with pity.

"Jack. You've lost sight of your objectivity. Of course orders supercede the life or your team and your wife. The General would never have put you in charge of the unit if he wasn't sure you understood that. Also, just stop and think for a minute. Granger needs you to report to him expressly because *you do* know The City and it's factions. They are baiting you. Why else take Teresa? Use your reason man! Let Granger help you."


Jack stared long and hard at Tatai. What little respect he had gained for her on the mission was gone now. If he had a gun in his hand, he would have killed her and sort everything out with the UR later. Tatai's little world of military doctrine and regulatory functionality prevented her from understanding the threat that Teresa was facing. In a city filled with
blood and life sucking vampires, ruthless crime lords, and a plethora of unknown threats from all know dimensions there were no rules. Rules were impossible. Life and death was what mattered and even that had grey areas.


Jack understand life in The City as simply as he understood that Tatai would kill him if he persisted on not going to UR mobile command. He would leave her at UR mobile command, too.

"Very well," Jack said. His voice was strangely calm sounding even to himself. "We will go see Granger and if my wife dies as a result of doing so, I will kill you."

***End New Content***

The biometric scanners didn't lie, but Jack sure as hell was. He wasn't going because she'd convinced him. He was only going because he couldn't rescue Teresa if he was dead.

"You're welcome to try Jack."

The open field was so quiet they could hear the wind rustling the grass. A pair of birds wheeled high in the sky, spiraling towards the treeline in the distance. Tatai couldn't remember the last time she'd been anywhere so peaceful and beautiful. Did she even look out the viewscreen of the Acheron? Did she notice the stars? Why was she hesitating?

Jack's face was set into a determined grimace as he stared her down. Tatai could see in his eyes how much he hated her.

And then she knew why she had been waiting. A part of her understood Jack. She didn't have any sympathy for him; she didn't hate him, but she did understand why he did the things he did. Maybe he wasn't rationale, but he was consistent. He cared more about his people then he did himself. She could honor that. She could wait until he gave her a reason that met the standards of honor.

Tatai holstered her weapon and walked towards the truck. She climbed into the passenger seat and looked out the window at Jack and the Lieutenant who was still aiming his weapon at Jack's head. She looked at Jack and smiled slowly.

"Lieutenant. Secure Captain Lassiter in the back of the truck. We wouldn't want to lose him on the way."

OFF: A JP by Cathy and Paul

[Thorn]

Chapter 11: Metamorphasis
Rifts Earth

ON: Green Mansions


“The balcony must be along the back of the house which faces the west,” Max Hauer said. “That way the sunsets can be enjoyed in the evening. The owner is not a morning person as I can well testify.”

The architect nodded her head as Max pointed at the drawings that were laid out on the hood of his truck. In two short days, Max had managed to create the new layout that would be Green Mansions. He was proud not only of the house that would be Thorn and Lita’s new home but very proud of the methodical way he went about to getting it from an idea in his head to a truly functional home that would blend in with its surroundings in a natural way. He grinned and reached into his jacket pocket for one of his cigarillos.

“And you want this house to be made of natural items as much as possible, Sir?” the architect asked. She sounded bewildered.

“Yes!” Max said. He tilted his head to one side as he lit the cigarillo. “Think Swiss chalet and mountain cabin. You must use as much wood as possible and minimize all synthetics. Of course, the house must be self sufficient.”

“If you don’t mind my saying, Doctor Hauer, you are creating a compound. The security systems around the house alone are state of the art. You’re going to need a lot of solar panels just to power all this and whole bunch of wind turbines. You would do better to build a power house near the river and….”

“No!” Max said. “Nothing detrimental to nature will be tolerated.”

The architect side and scratched her head. “Well, I suppose that…..what was that sound?”

Max bit down on his cigarillo. “What sound?”

“I thought I heard giggling,” the architect replied. “It sounded like a woman’s giggling.”

“That was nothing,” Max answered. He quickly turned back to the drawings. “Now, we must have plenty of light filtering into the house without risking privacy to the rooms and…”

The architect turned toward a long row of pine tree’s that lined the crumbling old house nearby. She pointed excitedly at one of the pines. “Did you see that? I just saw a woman jump from one tree to the next!”

Max stared at the pine tree where he heard Lita giggling. It was the first time in days that he had seen her excited. He stared at the flabbergasted architect. “She came with the property. Poor woman is insane and I haven’t the heart to have her hauled away to an insane asylum. She won’t hurt anyone. Anyhow, you must take these plans and go back to The City and get the work crews together. Construction must begin within the week!”

The architect stared at Max with shock as he gathered up the drawings and pushed them into her hands. “What she doing climbing tree’s? Are you sure she’s alright? I thought she was naked.”

“If you chose to climb tree’s naked, it would be your choice and not one for me to question so I ask you to do the same for her,” Max said. He guided the architect to the door of her truck and he opened it. “Have a safe trip back and don’t forget the changes.”

“Doc, I’ll build your house but I can’t have my work crews seeing some naked wildwoman running around,” the architect said. “That’s an invitation for disaster.”

“You don’t even know how correct you are,” Max replied.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Good day!” Max answered. He smiled and waved at the architect who started the engine of her truck. She put it in gear and sped down the rutted road that led back to The City. Several times the truck nearly veered off the road as the architect tried to stare at the pine trees from her side mirror.

Once the architect was gone, Max pulled the cigarillo from his mouth and he flicked it into the ground. He stubbed it out with his boot heel and started toward the pine tree’s where Lita’s giggling still could be heard. He placed his hands on his hips as he looked up onto the top of the pines. They were huge pines and any sane individual would have known better than to climb them for fear of falling and breaking their back. Lita, however, climbed them as if she were a squirrel. She even jumped from one tree to the next, an act that nearly drove Max to a nervous break down. When he asked Lita why she liked the pine tree’s so much, she responded that they were very nice and they enjoyed her company. Her methods of communing with nature continued to amaze him but nothing more than her current recovery. For the last two days she had been sullen and withdrawn. Now, she was full of energy. It made Max happy, as he knew why. He stared at the ground and picked up the cotton dress she had stripped off. He chuckled and looked at the tree top.

“I am happy that Thorn is back, Lita, but I think you should come down and get cleaned up. What do you say?”

Lita smirked as she looked down at Max. He seemed very happy. He was also a little annoyed with her. Lita sighed and called down to him as she let her camouflage fade away and she was clearly visible.

"Lita is sorry, Max. Lita did not stay hidden."

She waited until she saw Max was standing directly under her and then she leapt off the branch. She saw Max gasp as she turned into a fall of water. He did not have time to react before she landed right beside him, her velocity creating a huge exploding puddle of water, mud and leaves that drenched him from head to toe. She gathered herself together and reformed into flesh and bone, giggling at the look on Max's face.

Lita's connection with Max was tenuous and fragile and it was being overwhelmed by Thorn's return and much stronger presence. But Lita was also holding back from Max. She didn't want him to catch the feelings of sorrow.

Lita was ecstatic that Thorn was back from the stars. But her sorrow was because he was different now. He was no longer the Thorn she knew. He had changed. Someone had hurt him very badly. Thorn had not healed. But something else inside him had come alive too. Something wonderful and frightening.


OFF: A JP by Cathy and Paul

[Thorn]

Chapter 11: Metamorphasis
Rifts Earth
On the way to Green Mansions

ON:

Thorn could have killed a man for a Red Apple cigarette just a day earlier. He definitely would have killed countless people if it meant being able to nail one of Jack’s dancer ladies and having a glass of expensive scotch afterwards. Since his near death experience, however, he had found his desire for such things muted. Fortunately, however, his desire for sex had not changed but the need for a cigarette, a glass of scotch, and a lavish meal had definitely diminished. What he found in their place was a strange need to be as close to nature as possible. It was always a feeling that he kept pushed away and had labeled as his animal side.

Thorn had eaten fresh kill before. He had done so several times since coming to Earth but only when needed. Even on Mars there were occasions and ceremonies when he would kill an animal and eat it but he had observed them only when formality demanded. However, as he finished eating the rabbit that he had chased down and killed, it was entirely different sensation. It was not until Thorn had dug a small hole and buried the remains of the rabbit that he realized what he had been feeling. He stood over the pile of earth and felt completely and utterly stunned.

He had felt sorry for the rabbit. He had buried it out of respect for the fact that its life had been given to nourish his. It was such a strange and overwhelming realization, that Thorn felt he should have been amused or embarrassed by the action when in fact it felt perfectly suitable to him.

The Fate of Destiny. Thorn remembered what the shaman, Mariah, hold him in his vision with her while he lay dying on Freedom Station. This was all part of the nonsensical babble she had told him about how the universe was called Unity and how there were paths, called Fates, that intertwined with all living things. It still made Thorn’s head hurt trying to figure it all out, but he was damn sure that his burying the rabbit was part of the babble. What he could deduce out of his conversation with Mariah was that his animal side was waking up to natural world around him and there was nothing he could do to stop it. If he was not careful how to control this new wakening, he could end up living in the wild as a Touched One. Touched Ones were shaman on Mars who were so overwhelmed with the natural world they were revered by the shaman.

The last thing Thorn wanted to do was walk about rambling like a wild man and reading fortunes to passersby for money or food. He focused on his task of getting back to Green Mansions and being with Lita. He was not quite sure, but he felt she was a key to figuring out his problems.

“HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP!”

The shrill voice came from the east. Thorn stopped and turned his head toward the yelling. It was a woman’s voice, very panicked and shrill. Over the voice, he heard the sound of laughter followed by what sounded like glass being smashed and metal being pounded upon. Thorn could make out the smell of human sweet tinged with alcohol and marijuana. He could also smell the sweet tinge of fear spiced with urine. Whoever was screaming was so scared that they had voided their bladder.

Thorn had stripped off his battle armor and he had left his rifle on the Acheron. The armor had put too much pressure on his newly healed wounds and the rifle had been too heavy where his muscles had just mended. Muttering an annoyed curse for going all-natural he started toward the sound of the screaming and laughing. As he pushed his way through a dense section of brush, he came across a dirt road. On the shoulder of the road, he saw two leather clad bikers going to work on the remains of a truck. The truck was laying on its side as it had been forced off the road. The bikers had smashed the windshield and had out of their lust for destruction had tore out the truck’s interior. Bits of foam from the bench seat were strewn about as two of the bikers were busy smashing at the dashboard with crowbars.

Eight feet away and laying face down in a pool of blood was the body of a man, obviously the driver of the truck. Several feet away was the third biker. He had a woman pinned to the ground and was in the process of tearing her dress away so he could rape her.

“Hey Russo! Make sure you don’t off the bitch until we get ours!” one of the bikers at the truck yelled.


The man and woman had been travelers, no doubt from The City when they had had the misfortune of running across the bikers who had nothing else to do at the moment. There were outlying settlements near The City and some of the residents took chances at traveling form the security of the city warrens to visit family members or friends that they had not seen in years. Some were lucky to reach the settlements while others, such as the man and woman, had paid the price of leaving their sanctity.

“It is always something,” Thorn said to himself.

Thorn stepped across the road to where the back bumper of the pickup truck had sheered off and had come to a rest in the middle of the road. He picked it up and hefted it carefully as he walked toward the would-be rapist. The sick little pig was too busy trying to get his hard on out of his pants that he did not hear Thorn approach from behind. As for his friends, they were making such a calamity tearing apart the truck that they had not seen Thorn approaching their friend.

Thorn’s first instinct was to use the bumper and bring it down on the man’s head thus crashing it like a ripe melon but the urge to do so made him hesitate. Thorn opted for taking the bumper and swinging it over his shoulder and striking the man against his right arm. It hit him with enough force that it shattered his right arm. It flopped sickly over his back in an unnatural way arms were not supposed to move. The force of the blow flung the man off the screaming woman who then began to scream wildly at Thorn. From her point of view, she had gone from nearly being raped by the murderer of her husband to now being devoured by a werewolf.

The stricken biker began to scream wildly in pain as he writhed and squirmed in agony on the ground nearby. Thorn turned just as the two bikers at the truck stopped to see what was wrong with their friend. The morons had left their rifles at their motorcycles but they were ballsy enough to start running toward Thorn with their crowbars. He took the bumper in his paws and flung it hard at the biker to his right.

“Hold that for me, please,” Thorn said.

The heavy bumper slammed into the biker’s chest and flung him to the ground and knocked him out cold. Thorn turned his attention to the third biker who had no choice but to continue his rampage minus his partner. Thorn’s instinct was to flick out his claws and rip the biker’s throat off but the desire to kill was overridden by the feeling that killing was something had to be a last resort rather than a choice. As the biker ran towards Thorn with his crowbar at the ready, Thorn stepped aside and slapped the biker against the back of the head with his paw. The biker fell forward and as he went down Thorn turned and slammed his paw down on the man’s left leg. The femur bone snapped as if it were a dried twig.

“Lousy amateurs,” Thorn said. He stared at the three groaning bikers. He stepped over the one with the broken leg and yanked the leather jacket from his body. Taking the jacket in his paw, he walked over to the motorcycles and picked up the rifles that the bikers had attached to holsters on their bikes. He smashed two of the rifles on the road and taking the third he walked back to where the woman was sitting.

The woman had finished screaming and she was staring at the wounded bikers in a state of shock. Thorn draped the jacket around her hand placed the rifle at her side. To his surprise, she did not flinch away from him or reach for the rifle in defense.

“You can reach the safety of The City before nightfall,” Thorn said. He tried his best to sound sympathetic. “The bikers will not dare follow you now. Can you walk?”

The woman shook her head and her lip trembled. “Y-yes,” she whispered.

A good sign, Thorn thought. The last thing he wanted was to carry a woman paralyzed by shock to the safety of The City. Colonel Volksetter’s warning about entering The City at nightfall did not include any special circumstances and Thorn was not in the mood to find out if any were allowed. “Take the rifle and go,” Thorn said.

The woman reached for the rifle and slowly got onto her feet. She stared in the direction of her dead husband but her senses were such that she had no choice but to leave him lay and hope that the City Militia would come and claim the body. She started slowly toward the road when she stopped and looked at Thorn. He could only imagine what passed through her mind as she stared at his towering form.

“Why didn’t you kill them?” she asked.

Thorn stared at the bikers. “Fate,” he said.

“I….want to kill them,” the woman said. “They took my husband.”

A moan escaped the biker with the shattered arm. Thorn watched as the biker scrambled onto his feet and darted into the woods leaving behind his unconscious friend and the one with the broken leg. The one with the broken leg stared wide-eyed at the rifle in the woman’s hand as he began to crawl across the ground with his hands. It was a pathetic site and Thorn had to admit he felt some pity for the man but the man had chosen his path, his Fate, and he would now face the consequences.

Thorn spoke softly. “I cannot stop you but you should think long and hard before taking the lives of these men.”

There was nothing else to be said. Leaving the woman alone with the rifle, he walked back into the wood toward the direction that he could sense Lita. It was several minutes later when he heard the report of the rifle. It was several seconds when he heard the second report.

Thorn felt no sense of loss for the biker’s souls or even pity for that of the woman. Every living thing had its path. He had chosen his. The bikers and the woman victim had chosen theirs. This thing he now understood quite simply.

OFF:

Thorn

[Mystyrys]

Chapter 11 : Metamorphosis

ON: The Keep

The moment her eyes opened the stillness surged over her and she bolted upright and leaned over the edge of the bed to retch dryly and painfully, as there was nothing inside her to vomit up.

"Ah, awake at last. It's land sickness, the drugs and the gunshot wound." He touched the back of his fingers to her forehead. "And a fever too, I think. I will have a medic come see you when we are done."

Sin flinched away from his touch as if he'd branded her with ice. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him as she dragged the back of her hand across her mouth, wiping away the thick spittle that clung to her dry and blood-caked lips.

She saw she was in a sparsely furnished room of stone walls and stone floor. A heavy iron-bound door was across the room. A thin shaft of pale moonlight striped the floor. The shadows showed there were bars on the window.

Where had her Father brought her? Another prison?

"Where's Daddy?" She snarled at the thin, gray-haired man sitting beside her. She was surprised at how weak and dry her voice sounded. How long had she been out? She looked down, suddenly realizing there was a throbbing pain in her thigh that was growing steadily more agonizing.

"I sent him away. He can help you no longer."

Sin grimaced as she pressed the heel of her hand to the seeping wound in her leg, wincing as fresh bright blood oozed between her fingers.

"Who the fuck are you?" Sin hissed as she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

The gray man leaned over her and smiled as he gently pushed her back against the pillow.

"Your last chance, Sin. Your only chance."

OFF: It's not over.

Sin